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(VOL. 11 NO. 12 A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY
0
0
.=
0.
Tennessee Williams, one of AM e rica's leading Gay citizens, isthownherdat
the-White House on Monday. June 9 receiving a Medal of Freedom citaticin
from-President Jimmy Carter, with a member of the Marine honor guard
assisting: In this eernarks nonaring Williams, Carter said: "His work is truly
remarkable.. the enjoyment that people have derived during his own lifetime
and I'm sure for many decades and centuries in the future will indeed be a
reminder of what America is in its challenge, in its failures, in its dreams, its
hopes for the future."
Williams, who makes Key West, Fla. his permanent home, is one of
America's most respected playwrights. He is author of such award winning
plays as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Carter also noted that, "Tennessee Williams
shows us that the truly heroic in life or art is human compassion."
JUNE 12, 1970)
Family Conference
Results A Surprise
by Don Leavitt
Aided by a walk-out of extreme
conservatives, Gay delegates to the northeast
region White House Conference on Families
[WHCF] managed to gain passage of a
resolution -calling for the elimination of
discrimination based on sexual preference.
The resolution, which also included support
for the Equal Rights Amendment and
abortion, squeaked by with a 292 to 291 vote.
Gay delegates and other liberal forces were
surprised and pleased that the feared
conservative take-over of the June 5-7
conference in Baltimore did not materialiw-
Two other regional conferences will take
place in the next month, in Minneapolis and
Los Angeles.
With most of the uncompromising
conservatives eliminated bythe walk-out, the
remainder of the delegates made efforts to
work with each other. The result was sixty
resolutions, ranging from proposed social
security changes, to asking for government
help in combatting teenage alcoholism, to
non-discrimination of Gays. These resolu-tions
will be incorporated with those
emerging from the Minneapolis and Los
Angeles ennferences and passed onto the
White House for implementation.
The Coalition for the White House
Conference on Families, made up of
moderate to liberal organizations including
the National Gay Task Force, had expected a
tough fight at Baltimore. "We were prepared
for the worst," says Tom Burroughs, an
NGTF observer. Fearful of conservative
backlash, however, the Coalition had urged
its members to avoid Gay rights because of its
controversial nature. A Coalition letter
stated, "One mandate becomes clear: avoid
unreasonable ideological conflict around
Carter Backs Off Immigration Bill
by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.
White House aides angered Gay activists
in California two weeks ago after one
spokesperson announced President Carter
would support legislation ending a ban on
Gay immigration while_ another told a San
Franciscnnewspaper the President had made
no such commitment.
When the confusion fmally clearedshordy
before the California primary, White House
officials said the aide who originally
announced Carter would support the pro-
Gay legislation was mistaken, and that no
presidential position has been taken on the
bill.
Gay organizations have been urging Carter
to endorse a bill introduced by Senator Alan
Cranston (D-Cl W.) that would repeal a
provision of the Immigration and Naturali-zation
Act barring Gay foreigners from
entering the country.
Don Knutson, director of Gay Rights
Advocates in San Francisco and staff
assistants- of Cranston and Rep. John Burton
(D-Calif.) reported being called by White
House aide Allison Thomas on May 29, and
informed of Carter's "decision' to support
the bill. Also contacted byThoritas Was Larr2
Bush, Washington correspondent for the
Sentinel, a San Francisco based Gay
newspaper, and Charles Brydon, co-executive
director of the National Gay Task
Force.
Everyone contacted insists Thomas, who
works for presidential assistant Anne Wexler,
told them Carter had decided to support the
Cranston bill, and that he was scheduled to
announce his decision "very soon."
However, when the White House was
contacted by a reporter for the Chronicle, San
Francisco's daily newspaper, another
spokesperson denied the President ever made
a commitment to support the legislation,
insisting such a decision was "way down the
road."
The spokesperson told the Chronicle that
Thomas was in error when she announced
Carter had made a decision on the issue.
What actually happened, the spokesperson
said, was the White House received favorable
comments from a number of federal agencies
that reviewed the bill. Thomas called to
inform the Gay representatives Of the
favorable comments, the spokesperson said.
Thomas could not be reached for comment
by The Blade, deadline time.'
At least one other White House source told
the Chronicle the Administration had, infact,
decided to endorse the Cranston bill but for
some reason changed its mind. "It looks to
me as if they had decided to go ahead and
announce it to get the Gay vote in California
and then got cold feet," the source told the
Chronicle.
The source speculated the Administration
may have become leery about the issue after it
learned of complaints by several congress-men
about a ceremony in Arlington
Cemetery on June 4 where Gays laid a wreath
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
memory of Gay veterans. The White House
intervened on behalf of the D.C. Gay
Activists Affiance, the group that sponsored
the ceremony, when military authorities
initially denied the group's request to hold
the ceremony.
"I think they told-Thomas to go and in ake
the calls telling everybody theadmfitistration
was supporting the Gays on the immigration
thing and then somebody higher up changed
the game plan after hearing the squawks on
the Hill," the source was quoted by the
Chronicle as saying. "I think they'll come out
for the bill in about two weeks when nobody
is looking."
polarizing issues such as abortion and Gay
rights."
While anti-abortion, anti-ERA, and anti-
Gay "pro-family" delegates had swept many
of the state elections, state governors
balanced out the delegations with appoint-ments
of more moderate people.
Once the conference began it became
This year's Gay Pride
theme is
"We Are Family"
In this edition's 2nd section: complete Gay
Pride Day '80 information and centerfild map
guide to Grijf D.C.
apparent that "pro-family" delegates did not
hold much power. In workshops the tone
was progressive, as moderates and liberals
found themselves in control of the
proceedings. While the main bulk of the ideas
discussed dealt with non-controversial
family issues such as tax policies, housing,
and inflation; proposals on abortion, the
ERA, and Gay rights met with some support.
These issues especially rankled the "pro-family"
delegates.
The conservatives circulated a paper
outlining their issues. The fear of
homosexuality ranked high. One of their top
priorities was to get the conference to adopt a
definition of family covering only the
traditional nuclear family of a husband, wife,
and children. Other recommendations
included barring tax breaks, welfare
assistance, adoption and foster care
opportunities for Gay couples; maintaining
government regulations banning homosexual
families from public housing; urging passage
of the anti-Gay Family Protection Act
pending in Congress; and criticizing
"homosexual programs" on television. The
paper states, "The entire WHCF amounts to
a covert attempt at shifting community
standards away from the traditional concept
Continued on page A-22
Winners of The Blade
Photo Contest
News: Results from the
ballot box are not good 0
Marines arrested 0 Wrap Up
Preferences: Gay American
Arts Festival e Bedrock
western • Sound tracks
Community Focus: Close
Up • Calendar • Gay
Pride Day '80 coverage
Continued on page A-21

(VOL. 11 NO. 12 A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY
0
0
.=
0.
Tennessee Williams, one of AM e rica's leading Gay citizens, isthownherdat
the-White House on Monday. June 9 receiving a Medal of Freedom citaticin
from-President Jimmy Carter, with a member of the Marine honor guard
assisting: In this eernarks nonaring Williams, Carter said: "His work is truly
remarkable.. the enjoyment that people have derived during his own lifetime
and I'm sure for many decades and centuries in the future will indeed be a
reminder of what America is in its challenge, in its failures, in its dreams, its
hopes for the future."
Williams, who makes Key West, Fla. his permanent home, is one of
America's most respected playwrights. He is author of such award winning
plays as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof, and Sweet Bird of Youth. Carter also noted that, "Tennessee Williams
shows us that the truly heroic in life or art is human compassion."
JUNE 12, 1970)
Family Conference
Results A Surprise
by Don Leavitt
Aided by a walk-out of extreme
conservatives, Gay delegates to the northeast
region White House Conference on Families
[WHCF] managed to gain passage of a
resolution -calling for the elimination of
discrimination based on sexual preference.
The resolution, which also included support
for the Equal Rights Amendment and
abortion, squeaked by with a 292 to 291 vote.
Gay delegates and other liberal forces were
surprised and pleased that the feared
conservative take-over of the June 5-7
conference in Baltimore did not materialiw-
Two other regional conferences will take
place in the next month, in Minneapolis and
Los Angeles.
With most of the uncompromising
conservatives eliminated bythe walk-out, the
remainder of the delegates made efforts to
work with each other. The result was sixty
resolutions, ranging from proposed social
security changes, to asking for government
help in combatting teenage alcoholism, to
non-discrimination of Gays. These resolu-tions
will be incorporated with those
emerging from the Minneapolis and Los
Angeles ennferences and passed onto the
White House for implementation.
The Coalition for the White House
Conference on Families, made up of
moderate to liberal organizations including
the National Gay Task Force, had expected a
tough fight at Baltimore. "We were prepared
for the worst," says Tom Burroughs, an
NGTF observer. Fearful of conservative
backlash, however, the Coalition had urged
its members to avoid Gay rights because of its
controversial nature. A Coalition letter
stated, "One mandate becomes clear: avoid
unreasonable ideological conflict around
Carter Backs Off Immigration Bill
by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.
White House aides angered Gay activists
in California two weeks ago after one
spokesperson announced President Carter
would support legislation ending a ban on
Gay immigration while_ another told a San
Franciscnnewspaper the President had made
no such commitment.
When the confusion fmally clearedshordy
before the California primary, White House
officials said the aide who originally
announced Carter would support the pro-
Gay legislation was mistaken, and that no
presidential position has been taken on the
bill.
Gay organizations have been urging Carter
to endorse a bill introduced by Senator Alan
Cranston (D-Cl W.) that would repeal a
provision of the Immigration and Naturali-zation
Act barring Gay foreigners from
entering the country.
Don Knutson, director of Gay Rights
Advocates in San Francisco and staff
assistants- of Cranston and Rep. John Burton
(D-Calif.) reported being called by White
House aide Allison Thomas on May 29, and
informed of Carter's "decision' to support
the bill. Also contacted byThoritas Was Larr2
Bush, Washington correspondent for the
Sentinel, a San Francisco based Gay
newspaper, and Charles Brydon, co-executive
director of the National Gay Task
Force.
Everyone contacted insists Thomas, who
works for presidential assistant Anne Wexler,
told them Carter had decided to support the
Cranston bill, and that he was scheduled to
announce his decision "very soon."
However, when the White House was
contacted by a reporter for the Chronicle, San
Francisco's daily newspaper, another
spokesperson denied the President ever made
a commitment to support the legislation,
insisting such a decision was "way down the
road."
The spokesperson told the Chronicle that
Thomas was in error when she announced
Carter had made a decision on the issue.
What actually happened, the spokesperson
said, was the White House received favorable
comments from a number of federal agencies
that reviewed the bill. Thomas called to
inform the Gay representatives Of the
favorable comments, the spokesperson said.
Thomas could not be reached for comment
by The Blade, deadline time.'
At least one other White House source told
the Chronicle the Administration had, infact,
decided to endorse the Cranston bill but for
some reason changed its mind. "It looks to
me as if they had decided to go ahead and
announce it to get the Gay vote in California
and then got cold feet," the source told the
Chronicle.
The source speculated the Administration
may have become leery about the issue after it
learned of complaints by several congress-men
about a ceremony in Arlington
Cemetery on June 4 where Gays laid a wreath
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
memory of Gay veterans. The White House
intervened on behalf of the D.C. Gay
Activists Affiance, the group that sponsored
the ceremony, when military authorities
initially denied the group's request to hold
the ceremony.
"I think they told-Thomas to go and in ake
the calls telling everybody theadmfitistration
was supporting the Gays on the immigration
thing and then somebody higher up changed
the game plan after hearing the squawks on
the Hill," the source was quoted by the
Chronicle as saying. "I think they'll come out
for the bill in about two weeks when nobody
is looking."
polarizing issues such as abortion and Gay
rights."
While anti-abortion, anti-ERA, and anti-
Gay "pro-family" delegates had swept many
of the state elections, state governors
balanced out the delegations with appoint-ments
of more moderate people.
Once the conference began it became
This year's Gay Pride
theme is
"We Are Family"
In this edition's 2nd section: complete Gay
Pride Day '80 information and centerfild map
guide to Grijf D.C.
apparent that "pro-family" delegates did not
hold much power. In workshops the tone
was progressive, as moderates and liberals
found themselves in control of the
proceedings. While the main bulk of the ideas
discussed dealt with non-controversial
family issues such as tax policies, housing,
and inflation; proposals on abortion, the
ERA, and Gay rights met with some support.
These issues especially rankled the "pro-family"
delegates.
The conservatives circulated a paper
outlining their issues. The fear of
homosexuality ranked high. One of their top
priorities was to get the conference to adopt a
definition of family covering only the
traditional nuclear family of a husband, wife,
and children. Other recommendations
included barring tax breaks, welfare
assistance, adoption and foster care
opportunities for Gay couples; maintaining
government regulations banning homosexual
families from public housing; urging passage
of the anti-Gay Family Protection Act
pending in Congress; and criticizing
"homosexual programs" on television. The
paper states, "The entire WHCF amounts to
a covert attempt at shifting community
standards away from the traditional concept
Continued on page A-22
Winners of The Blade
Photo Contest
News: Results from the
ballot box are not good 0
Marines arrested 0 Wrap Up
Preferences: Gay American
Arts Festival e Bedrock
western • Sound tracks
Community Focus: Close
Up • Calendar • Gay
Pride Day '80 coverage
Continued on page A-21